Hezbollah Claims To Have Destroyed One of Israel’s Famous Iron Dome Air Defense System Launchers
After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel was “preparing for a very intense operation” along the Lebanese border, the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah movement claimed to have destroyed an Iron Dome launcher stationed at the IDF’s headquarters in Ramot Naftali.
This claim, which Israeli authorities did not confirm, was supported by footage broadcast by Al-Manar, the television channel of the Shiite Islamist militant group known as the Party of Allah or Party of God. The video, which is about 1 and a half minutes long, shows the Iron Dome launcher being targeted by an Iranian-made Almas-3 (meaning diamond in English) guided anti-tank missile (ATGM). However, the video did not show the extent of the system’s damage as it ended just before the missile reached its target.
Hours after the video was widely circulated on social media networks, Israeli Telegram and X users shared photos showing the final state of the targeted Iron Dome battery. The first thing that stands out in the photos is that the heavily damaged launcher did not experience the ammunition explosion that should have occurred when struck, so there were no Tamir interceptor missiles inside. Second, the arrangement of the hydraulic lifting system and communication antenna on the launcher chassis differs from that of other Iron Dome batteries, which raised some questions about the allegations of this attack.
Based on the videos and photographs, some analysts argue that the alleged attack does not reflect reality and is part of Hezbollah’s years-long propaganda campaign, while others argue that the attack is real, but the iron dome system that was hit was a decoy or a defective unit that was scrapped. Although both of the preceding viewpoints provide logical responses to the issue from their respective perspectives, this does not change the fact that they remain unverified assumptions. If this incident, which still needs to be verified, is false, it would not be Hezbollah’s first lie; however, if the allegations are true, it would be the first documented case of Israel’s infamous Iron Dome air defense system being hit.
Iron Dome is a C-RAM (Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar) defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries that serves as part of Israel’s multi-layered air defense system. Designed especially for Israel’s needs following more than 4,000 rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanon in 2006, the system has intercepted more than 90% of Hezbollah and its ally Hamas’ attacks in the Gaza Strip since it became operational in 2011. It has also intercepted ’99 percent’ of targets in Iran’s retaliation for Israel’s April 1 attack on the Tehran Embassy in Damascus, using 170 drones, 120 ballistic missiles and 30 cruise missiles. In addition to Iron Dome, David’s Sling, C-Dome, Arrow, and Patriot systems all played a significant role in neutralizing targets during this attack.